CEDAW/C/70/D/76/2014
1.1 The author is H.D., a national of Somalia, born in 1989. She claims that her
deportation to Somalia would violate her rights under articles 2, 12 and 15 of the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The
Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto entered into force for Denmark on
21 May 1983 and 22 December 2000, respectively. The author is represented by
counsel, Niels-Erik Hansen.
1.2 The author’s asylum claim was rejected by Denmark on 27 October 2014, and
she was ordered to leave the country. At her request, the Committee requested that
the State party refrain from returning the author to Somalia, pending the consideration
of her case by the Committee, pursuant to article 5 (1) of the Optional Protocol and
rule 63 of the Committee’s rules of procedure. On 7 November 2014, the Refugee
Appeals Board of Denmark suspended the author’s deportation until further notice.
Facts as submitted by the author
2.1 The author belongs to the Ashraf clan and is a Muslim from southern Somalia.
She was married in 2007. She claims that, in 2010, her husband disappeared. 1
2.2 In 2013, the author began a relationship with another man, A. Subsequently, her
brother-in-law came to her house and asked her about her relationship with A.; he hit
her in the face. She initially denied having any relationship with A., but then admitted
to it.
2.3 The author did not alert Al-Shabaab of the relationship because she would have
been stoned to death if the group had discovered that she had entered into an
extramarital relationship. On 10 February 2014, the author ’s brother-in-law came to
her house again and found her with A. He stabbed A. with a knife. The author feared
that she, too, would be attacked by her brother-in-law, so she locked herself in a room
with one of her two children from her marriage (the other child was outside playing).
The brother-in-law left soon thereafter. Later that day, neighbours came into the
author’s home and knocked on the door of the room. Subsequently, the author was
accused of the murder of A.
2.4 On 20 February 2014, the author was sentenced to death by a local sharia court
for the murder of A. and was to be executed 15 days later. According to the author,
no one believed her claims that her brother-in-law was responsible for the murder.
The author claims that her allegations were not taken into account because she was a
woman.
2.5 In prison, she was assaulted by guards, in particular she was hit with the butt of
a rifle. On 23 February 2014, the town was attacked by government fo rces. During
the fighting, the prison was broken into, and the author escaped with the help of
relatives of other inmates. 2 Since 22 March 2014, government forces have controlled
the area. With help from a woman in town, the author was driven by truck to Ethiopia. 3
She had no passport. She stayed in Addis Ababa for two months. Her grandfather
arranged a flight to Denmark, with the support of an agent who provided her with
someone else’s passport.
2.6 The author arrived in Denmark on 16 May 2014 and sought asylum there. In her
application, she insisted that, irrespective of who controlled the area in which she
lived, she would not be protected from her husband’s family or A.’s family. Her
application was rejected by the Immigration Service of Denmark on 5 Aug ust 2014.
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No further information provided.
No further information provided.
The author does not provide further information on how she managed to flee in the truck.
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